10/29/08

More Conservatives For Obama

The election of Democrat Barack Obama to the presidency would be a "great thing" for the image of the United States, a Bush Administration State Department official said on Tuesday.

James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, was careful to emphasize he did not support the presidential nominee of either party, adding that he also thought "it would be a great thing for the United States to have a woman as vice president," in reference to Republican running mate Sarah Palin.

Glassman has also served as a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Speaking at a news conference focused on the US-led "war on terror," Glassman, who is tasked with improving America's image around the world, also spoke about the US military-run detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a lightning rod for criticism abroad.

"I don't think it's going to affect the image of the United States" if the prison is closed, he said.

Both candidates, Obama and his rival Republican John McCain, have pledged to close the camp at the US naval base that continues to hold 272 "war on terror" prisoners without charges.

Glassman is also known for his book "Dow 36,000," which he coauthored in 1999. In it, he asserted that the US stock market was vastly undervalued and that the Dow would reach 36,000 in "a few years."

As of Wednesday morning, the Dow stood at 9062.

Dow 36,000 (co-author). In this book, published in 1999, near the peak of the late 1990s stock market bubble, Glassman and his co-author declared that the stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, then around 10,000, were undervalued and that the stock prices would rise sharply, with the index reaching 36,000 within three to five years.